2026 World Standard-setters Conference debrief

Thank you to those who attended this year’s World Standard-setters Conference in London on 28–29 September. We’re grateful for your participation and engagement with the work of the Foundation and its two boards. We enjoyed connecting and exchanging views with you all—more than 150 delegates and observers from 73 jurisdictions. We value national standard-setters’ continued support and active contribution to our work. The recordings and presentations from the plenary sessions are now available on the World Standard-setters Conference 2026 event page.

Inside the Foundation

Chair of the IFRS Foundation Trustees Erkki Liikanen and Managing Director of the IFRS Foundation Laura Forzani kicked off the conference with an update on the Foundation’s activities, including the five-year operating and financing plan and leadership succession arrangements.

International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) Acting Chair and Vice-Chair Linda Mezon-Hutter and IASB Executive Technical Director Riana Wiesner gave an update on the IASB’s recent activities. The session included an open Q&A with the audience and covered what’s currently on the IASB’s work plan as well as a glimpse of what’s coming next.

International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) Vice-Chair Sue Lloyd and ISSB Executive Technical Director Bryan Esterly gave an update on the ISSB’s work over the past year and highlighted forthcoming priorities. Attendees had the opportunity to ask questions about the ISSB’s work.

Plenary session—Consistent application of IFRS Accounting Standards

IASB members Bruce Mackenzie and Bob Uhl and IFRS Interpretations Committee member Gary Berchowitz provided an update on the work of the IASB and the Committee in supporting the consistent application of IFRS Accounting Standards. The session focused on questions about IFRS 18—our new Standard on the presentation of financial statements, which will be effective next year.

Plenary session—Statement of Cash Flows and Related Matters

IASB member Bob Uhl and members of IASB Technical Staff Nick Barlow, Thathsara Ramanayake, Dennis Deysel and Easton Bilsborough explained recent developments in the IASB’s project on Statement of Cash Flows and Related Matters—sharing fresh insights and highlighting recent progress.

Plenary session—Adoption of IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards

ISSB Vice-Chair Sue Lloyd, Director of Regulatory Affairs Jonathan Bravo and Regulatory Affairs Manager Anna Hemmant explained how jurisdictions are adopting or otherwise using IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards and the tools available to support jurisdictions on this journey.

Drop-in session—IFRS for SMEs Accounting Standard

IASB members and technical staff provided an overview of the materials available to support application of the third edition of the IFRS for SMEs Accounting Standard.

Breakout sessions

The conference included breakout sessions on:

• Provisions—Targeted Improvements;
• IASB’s financial instruments projects;
• IFRS 20 Regulatory Assets and Regulatory Liabilities;
• Application of IFRS S1 General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information and IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures; and
• Nature-related disclosures.

For an overview of the breakout sessions, watch the 'Welcome back—Report back from breakout sessions on Day 1' recording, which is available on the World Standard-setters Conference 2026 page.